Realtek Driver - 2.1

[bdwyer]

I would like to request that the newer if_re driver be placed into the 2.1 kernel.  I'm not sure if thats something thats done normally anyway.

http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

[cmb]

we use what's built into the base FreeBSD version, which is 8.3 at this time.

[bdwyer]

Gotcha.  I figured that after realizing the driver build used in the base is not the the manufacturers version.  The man page for re(4) in the 8.1 is dated Jan '09 and the 8.2 is '11, not sure if thats just the man page's date or the drivers date.  I'm sure the driver will be updated in 8.3.  Thanks for the response!

[sokolum]

@cmb:

we use what's built into the base FreeBSD version, which is 8.3 at this time.

Really hope they consider add newer realtek drivers, see post:
Or give the system the option just to boot without NIC's so we can modify afterwards.

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,45137.0.html

[sokolum]

@sokolum:

@cmb:

we use what's built into the base FreeBSD version, which is 8.3 at this time.

Really hope they consider add newer realtek drivers, see post:
Or give the system the option just to boot without NIC's so we can modify afterwards.

http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,45137.0.html

I can confirm that release 2.1 is able to detect my Network interfaces of:

• Jetway NC9KDL-2700
• RTL8111EVL

[bdwyer]

@sokolum:

I can confirm that release 2.1 is able to detect my Network interfaces of:

• Jetway NC9KDL-2700
• RTL8111EVL

Thanks for the heads up.  My RTL8111E works alright at the moment on 2.0, I found that disabling autonegotation and manually setting 1gig on my WAN and LAN interfaces mitigated a flapping issue on my WAN when the modem rebooted and a similar issue/lockup when I flooded the LAN with Ping of Deaths.

I'll be waiting on 2.1 RELEASE; I don't have time to play with any potential issues on this box.

[Summer]

Hi, I've bought a Jetway NF9D-2700 with intel expansion card tried both stable and development, got no luck, with stable I can see the additional 3 ports, with developement I can use none of the 5 interfaces. Kindly ask you if there's some tricky to make it work.
I've looked at jetway driver cd that contain also relatek linux driver but I think I miss the package for pfsense to compile, lsmod and make.
this i what driver do:

#!/bin/sh

# invoke insmod with all arguments we got
# and use a pathname, as insmod doesn't look in . by default

TARGET_PATH=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net
echo
echo "Check old driver and unload it." 
check=`lsmod | grep r8169`
if [ "$check" != "" ]; then
        echo "rmmod r8169"
        /sbin/rmmod r8169
fi

check=`lsmod | grep r8168`
if [ "$check" != "" ]; then
        echo "rmmod r8168"
        /sbin/rmmod r8168
fi

echo "Build the module and install"
echo "-------------------------------" >> log.txt
date 1>>log.txt
make all 1>>log.txt || exit 1
module=`ls src/*.ko`
module=${module#src/}
module=${module%.ko}

if [ "$module" == "" ]; then
	echo "No driver exists!!!"
	exit 1
elif [ "$module" != "r8169" ]; then
	if test -e $TARGET_PATH/r8169.ko ; then
		echo "Backup r8169.ko"
		if test -e $TARGET_PATH/r8169.bak ; then
			i=0
			while test -e $TARGET_PATH/r8169.bak$i
			do
				i=$(($i+1))
			done
			echo "rename r8169.ko to r8169.bak$i"
			mv $TARGET_PATH/r8169.ko $TARGET_PATH/r8169.bak$i
		else
			echo "rename r8169.ko to r8169.bak"
			mv $TARGET_PATH/r8169.ko $TARGET_PATH/r8169.bak
		fi
	fi
fi

echo "Depending module. Please wait."
depmod -a
echo "load module $module"
modprobe $module

echo "Completed."
exit 0

[markuhde]

Foxconn D270S board here (Intel Atom D2700). Realtek 8111e onboard NIC, doesn't work at all in 2.0.1 for me, works great in 2.1. So yup, definitely new Realtek driver that's in 8.3. See here:

http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.3R/relnotes-detailed.html

I just wish 2.1 was actually usable. I know, I know, patience. I just wasn't expecting this and am trying to get this system up for a client (a friendly client running an old machine borrowed from me for now, thankfully). For the most part, what works, works great. Unfortunately, the traffic shaper doesn't work. Snort doesn't work. Etc. The traffic shaper is what I care about, it needs to work before I can even consider setting this up up at the campground it's for. In time, it'll come. :)

Also, anyone considering an Atom D2700 based board (or presumably D2500) - AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE. The graphics driver in FreeBSD (even 9.0) is messed up beyond belief. You can get through install with the 32-bit version, though there are missing characters and stuff. The 64-bit version only shows one line of text, so you can't even get through an install :( Seriously - it's that bad. I got this board because it was cheap, and it's for a non-profit (I'm semi-donating my time… they'll give me something they're friendly and always do - but I'm not billing them. They also know I use them as a "sandbox" of sorts to try things before I unleash them on my other clients)